ESPN tells five unforgettable narratives of Boston Marathon survivors

Marc Fucarile and his son Gavin at a Red Sox game in 2012.(Photo via G. Jeffrey MacDonald)

Marc Fucarile was the last victim of the Boston Marathon bombing attacks to be released from the hospital. On July 24, 2013, exactly 100 days after the second of the two explosions took his right leg and severely burned his left leg, the 35-year-old father from Stoneham, Mass. left Spaulding Rehabilation Hospital on crutches, returning home to a life that would never be the same.

Fucarile’s story is one of five incredibly powerful vignettes weaved together in ESPN’s upcoming E:60 spring premiere, “E:60 Presents Dream On: Stories from Boston’s Strongest,” which debuts on the network on Tuesday, the one-year anniversary of the Boston Marathon.

In addition to Fucarile, the show will introduce viewers to four other stories featuring survivors of the attacks and how they’ve moved forward since that tragic day.

“These five [pieces] provide for a diverse mix and they each provide a different message,” E:60 executive producer Andy Tennant told For The Win. “There’s different points we wanted to hit during the course of the hour. Courage, healing, resilience. These are all things we all wanted to explore and show.”

“Of all the shows we’ve done that have been single-themed – and there have only been a few – this is the most powerful that we produced.”

ESPN’s producers began brainstorming this episode in the days following the attacks, initially planning a show around the six-month anniversary. As they began narrowing the list of potential subjects down from nearly 25 to the final quintet, they realized that their stories would be more fully realized with a little more distance from the event.

“A lot of people are dealing with getting back on their feet from physical injuries. A lot of people are dealing with getting back on their feet from PTSD type injuries and emotional stuff,” senior producer Heather Lombardo said. “Our goal was to find five different stories that were very unique from one another. That’s how we narrowed them down. The stories were not necessarily who had the worst injuries or most dramatic story from that day but unique stories that everyone could relate to on a human interest level but stood apart from each other. Our goal was never to rehash that day. Our goal was to tell stories that moved beyond that day. Stories of hope and perseverance and rebuilding.”

The show is hosted by ABC News’ Bob Woodruff, who suffered a traumatic brain injury after his vehicle struck an IED while he was covering the war in Iraq in 2006. Woodruff, who was traveling in China during last year’s Boston Marathon, said the story “became very personal” as soon as he heard the news.

Bob Woodruff and his wife Lee at a New York event for his foundation in January.(Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for PepsiCo)

“All I could think about was what my family has lived through and the same kind of tragedy we went through and how there’s family members and people that were killed and injured,” Woodruff said. “It reminded me of the wars. That’s one of the largest ways I became attached to this story.”

The network used their considerable reach to get as many big names with Boston ties involved in the project as possible. Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler and Joe Perry recorded an original version of their hit “Dream On” for the show’s soundtrack, performing a stripped down version without bass and percussion and backed by the Southern California Children’s Chorus. At least one major actor from Boston will provide voiceovers for the show, which previews on ABC on Saturday afternoon (4 p.m. ET) before its primetime airing three days later.

Amazingly, all of the subjects featured in the episode plan to attend the 2014 race on April 21. The producers have discussed possibly doing follow-up segments on some of them in future E:60 broadcasts as they expect audiences will be captivated by their personal stories and continued battles after Tuesday’s broadcast.

“The challenge was finding a delicate balance between telling their stories and not rehashing what happened that day,” Lombardo said. “But also not sugarcoating the challenges that have come up in their lives since that day.”

Marc Fucarile was the last victim of the Boston Marathon bombing attacks to be released from the hospital. On July 24, 2013, exactly (…)

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